Career Corner Blog Posts
Blog posts are a great way for SAP, customers, and partners to share advice, insights into career trends, new opportunities, and personal success stories.
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Colleen
Advisor
Advisor

Welcome to SCN Careers and Skills Space. A very special welcome if this is your first time on planet SAP visiting the territory SCN. You may have heard about us from a friend or a family member. Possibly your university lecturer covered a SAP topic in your lecture. You have become hooked on SAP - even if you have no idea what it actually is. You have been told it is the path to riches, respect (sing it out R.E.S.P.E.C.T) and success as long as you invest wisely and choose carefully.

The job title of SAP Consultant is at your fingertips…if only ONLY you could get your foot in the door. You are about to invest your hard-earned (maybe borrowed) currency into training or perhaps you just completed it. You might be here to find out what area of SAP to study (in some cases the Training and Education space might be more helpful). You might even be here (unaware of the SAP Certification space) trying to obtain direction as to which Certification Exam you should sit/write. You could also be here asking for other advice or venting frustration that you are not getting any job interviews. Why won’t anyone give freshers a chance sound familiar?

Whatever your motivation for wanting to ask a question here is, has it ever occurred to you that your actions on SCN might actually be like a job interview (or come back to haunt you in one)? You are participating in a professional community: the SAP community. You are most likely using your real name (I hope so) and sufficient information to identify yourself (but I hope not too much). Let’s pretend the question you are about to ask us is an indication of your communication skills and work ethic. Or even better, what if you were the interviewer and below is what you receive for a candidate’s application?


Pls tell me wat i shuld study for right carrier i dont no wat is SAP but will learn 4 gud job thnx

So what are your thoughts here? Remember you are part of the interview panel and you need to decide if this applicant is worthy of an opportunity in your company. That is, are they someone you want to invest in for training and development? Are they someone you could trust to communicate effectively with your customers or will clearly articulate technical requirements?  Are they demonstrating they have the ability to think for themselves? Are they showing initiative in performing basic research first?  Who else is answering No to all of these questions? On a positive, with the 'pls' and 'thnx' they do seem polite.

Interview over. Score Card is 0. If you are this type of applicant, I’m sorry but you didn't get the job. You might now argue that I am being unfair as I have not given you the chance to demonstrate your domain or technical skills – after all you passed your certification! The reality is there are so many qualified people out there so as the employer I have the luxury to demand a candidate who is both knowledgeable and can communicate as well. And in reality if this was an actual job, your application would not make it to my desk as the HR department – who has no idea what your skill is – already rejected your application to thin the numbers.

You are here asking for advise and that’s what this space is partly here for (we also like to discuss skills and development). I empathise that you have strong competition and there aren't enough entry-level jobs for everyone. It can be quite stressful and disheartening to invest so much time, money and energy only to receive constant rejection – or worse silence. You might already be at your wit’s end and ready to fabricate your resume (please I beg you don’t) to get a job.

Or perhaps you did a little research and you are aware the strong competition to get a job. You realise the investment is costly so you find yourself here wanting valuable career advice. My advise for you to nail this interview (question) and be the successful candidate (receive meaningful tailored advise to your situation) is to take the time to figure out what you want to ask and take even more time to write a meaningful question.

And remember, a future employer might Google your name and come across your participation in SCN. What conclusion do you think they will form about you? Do you think you will be successful if they read what you wrote?

Summary of this and why as moderator I have sent you here: if you want career advice in this space please:

  • Follow the SCN Rules of Engagement
  • Search SCN first to see if your situation has already been discussion (if everyone uses meaningful titles then you will find this easier);
  • Read the blogs in this space as well as Training and Education and SAP Certification;
  • If you do not know what SAP is then Google first and read up on it. There is a wealth of knowledge out there and in SCN. Have a look at Learning Hub (discovery edition is free) to get an overview of the SAP components;
  • When posting a question:
    • Have a look the following tips in the blog Asking Good Questions in the SCN Discussion Spaces will help you get Good Answers
    • Use proper English not slang or text speak (consider those whose primary language is not English) – this is part of SCN Rules of Engagement
    • Write a meaningful title (do not write generic titles like “Help!!!!!”  or “Career Advise” or “Pls suggest") – make your title relevant to your question (e.g. SAP FI trained seeking advise on additional skills).
    • In your details provide background information about yourself (education/qualification; exposure to SAP or how your learned about SAP; what your believe your strengths and interests are; what research have you done; do you have end user or domain experience; etc). The more context your provide the less chance you will receive generic cookie-cutter responses.
    • Do not ask for someone to provide tell you what the “right” module will be as this entirely depends on your aptitude, interest, etc. We can provide options but only you can decide if it is right.
    • Do not include your personal details (email, phone, address, resume, etc) in your post as this is against the SCN Rules of Engagement.
  • If you ask a question, then acknowledge the replies and ensure that you mark your question as answered. I suspect the Career Space has the highest ratio of open questions and I would love to see that change.

What are your thoughts? Do you have any other suggestions on how someone new to SAP can put their best foot forward when participating in this space?

Regards

Colleen

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